The government through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has told Parliament it needs to borrow $150 million from the Export Import Bank of China.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy ministers Henry Musasizi, the Minister of State for General Duties, and Chris Baryomunsi, the ICT minister, said the money will be used to finance the supply, installation, commissioning & support of the national data transmission backbone infrastructure/ E-Government Infrastructure Project Phase Five.

The project components include the backbone network which will cover 3,604km of backbone network & 51 backbone transmission sites. This will increase coverage of the backbone network by adding 56 new areas & increasing coverage to 83%.

According to the finance ministry, the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure Project is implemented by the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U).

It is aimed at connecting Ministries and Government Departments onto the e-Government Network.